I'll probably get creamed for some of what follows. Please, just be sure the
cream is organic!
1) Who Does the Talking? The tobacco companies have carried on expert and
extensive research programs. They identified the causes of addiction and
factors that would influence the degree of addiction. They learned how to
control the amount of nicotine in cigarettes with great precision. (Their
research in marketing was perhaps even more impressive.) It was not the
laboratory scientists who swore in front of Congress that cigarettes were not
addictive.
2) Who Funds the Testing? I'll leave it to you and others to discover and
report whence cometh the funds for testing new substances. And, for that
matter, old ones. In 1972, Congress gave EPA five years to retest 590
chemical compounds, used in 18,000 pesticides. (Reportedly they had been
approved on the basis of bad data.) By 1997, 152 had been retested, 438 not
retested but still on the market.
3) Who Decides? Scientists knew very well the risks of launching the space
shuttle Challenger, the one that carried Christie McAuliffe and others to
fiery deaths. An 11/11/97 report on detailed technical analysis by
University of River Falls group #2 states in conclusion, "On January 27,
1986, the eve of the launch, Thiokol engineers said the rubber O-rings sealing
the four main segments of the 166-foot long solid fuel motor could be stiff
and slow to respond in the next morning's freezing temperatures (Burkey.) Our
results agree with those of the engineers in the elasticity of rubber being
dependent on temperature. The O-rings used did not function (and could not
have functioned under the conditions on January 28, 1986) as expected. The
Challenger should never have launched." ------ The point is, the Thiokol
scientists did know the risks, and did give warning. However, they were not
the decision makers.
4) Oops! Anyone who has an open mind and hasn't yet read it should hurry up
and read Jim Hightower's "There's Nothing in the Middle of The Road but Yellow
Stripes and Dead Armadillos." Section 4, on Pollution, is especially relevant
to the question at hand. Here's a small sample, not as funny as many parts
of the book, but this is a serious subject: "From DES to IUD's, from agent
orange to nicotine, from Love Canal to Silicon Valley - what was touted as
scientific truth only yesterday turns out to be wrong today. 'Oops'" --- On
the subject of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (human relative of Mad Cow Disease)
Hightower points out that this killer can incubate for up to fifty years
before symptoms appear, followed by a most unpleasant death. [Oops!]
5) What To Do: As I see it, the powers that be should select a large
uninhabited island in the U.S. territory in the South Pacific, perhaps one
that was evacuated after previous residents exhibited the delayed effects of
nuclear testing and radioactive residues. The island should be far enough
from the nearest neighbor to eliminate possible problems with drift. They
should then relocate to that island the laboratories now used for agrichemical
research, along with new plant, pest, and animal subjects for testing. The
labs would be staffed, and the island populated, by persons who are dedicated
to the proposition that Organic Is Not Safer. Batteries of tests would be
conducted weekly on the health of soil, water, air, plants, and animals
(including humans). It is not yet clear what should be done with the test
results.
All for now, very likely more later,
Betty Gras
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